Blockchain’s Applications in The Internet of Things Would Expand Network Data Sharing

We’re seeing a lot of media reports lately about blockchain merging with many existing technologies to create something better. One of the most exciting areas is how it’s integrating with The Internet of Things. Smart devices using IOT are already becoming ubiquitous, and it’s also facing some huge challenges as it grows. One of those is in security, as well as transparency.

Applying blockchain technology to IoT could solve many of these issues. Although it can also help in one specific area: Network data sharing.

Many companies do data sharing reluctantly today because of the security concerns. When it involves financials and private data, you can see why some businesses hesitate.

What will blockchain’s security and transparency features do to expand data sharing so IoT lives up to its fullest potential?

Looking Into the Future of Data Sharing

Many media outlets studying blockchain continue to look at a possible future where all devices sell or buy energy capacity, or easily send data. In the case of energy, it’s already starting to slowly happen. A Transactive Grid project in Brooklyn, New York currently uses devices to share solar energy among fellow neighbors. The technology behind this is all blockchain, giving a chance to remove the expensive process of distributing energy.

It’s just the beginning in making this more widespread, with the only challenge being waiting for a national blockchain protocol. At the center of it all are smart contracts, another term for digital contracts. These allow private networks to buy or sell things, like energy capacity.

The Internet of Things plays a big part because it’s going to rely on smart devices attached to solar panels. With blockchain providing more privacy, as well as transparency, it could eliminate the potential of hacks or discrepancies.

In the end, it’s going to help bring trust in our smart devices to work autonomously rather than requiring a middleman.

Sharing Data in General

Once blockchain becomes more widespread, it’s going to bring trustworthiness among companies in wanting to share data. More and more data continues being processed from smart devices to make things work efficiently. We’re going to need a technology that can handle increasing quantities of data without having to perpetually worry about it being compromised.

With a lot of this information being private data, blockchain plays a significant part in making people feel more secure about sending information. At the moment, most people have to ignore the security elephant in the room with their data. We’re at a point where it’s a daily roulette game on who has their data taken for a criminal act.

Blockchain needs to continue integrating with various technologies to create a completely fortified network. Along with IoT, machine learning is going to help further refine data for more insights and reliability.

Purchasing All Kinds of Data

In the near future, we might be able to do more sharing and selling of our data for profit. Many companies may buy your data to provide insights into better marketing. Even ordinary data from our cars, health, or environments can become valuable to others to either use directly, or apply to metrics.

The trust behind blockchain is going to enable these transactions through all smart devices. If there’s any questions about data validity, blockchain allows a transparent network to check in on accuracy. For audits, this is important to provide a digital trail and determine data quality level.

Hopefully this is the path we’ll see as IoT becomes more ubiquitous in the marketplace.

Keep reading us at Blockchain Revolution as we examine this technology’s role in reshaping other technologies.